Fogger



1956 s. R. WHIPPLE ET AL 2,759,292

FOGGER Filed Sept. 24, 1953 ST/LES R. WH/PPLE JOSEPH R. LAKE Z1471. WWW

ATTY

IN VEN TORS:

United States Patent FOGGER Stiles R. Whipple, Downers Grove, and JosephR. Lake, Clarendon Hills, 111.

Application September 24, 1953, Serial No. 382,106

1 Claim. (Cl. 43-129) This invention relates in general to a foggerwhich is more particularly described as a fog producing device used withan internal combustion engine as applied to a vehicle such as a tractoror a lawn mower.

The object of the invention is to utilize heat of an engine exhaust tovaporize a liquid producing a fog which is dispersed from the mufiler ofan engine for the purpose of destroying insects such as mosquitoes,chiggers and gnats and the like.

An important feature of the invention is to provide pressure in a liquidcontaining tank in connection with a dispersing system including theexhaust or the muffier of an engine to which it is applied.

It has heretofore been proposed as for example, in Patent No. 2,655,406,October 13, 1953, C. W. Loy and M. H. Mullis to provide a liquid whichmay be vaporized by connection to the exhaust of an internal combustionengine, but due to the fact that most engines of this kind which areconnected to vehicles such as tractors and lawn mowers produce a slightback pressure in the exhaust, particularly when a sound producingmufiler is attached thereto, the liquid is not properly fed from itscontainer, it is not properly vaporized and the dispersion of the vaporfrom the end of the muffler is either dependent upon the speed of theengine or it is vaporized spasmodically or irregularly and not as acontinuous fog.

The present invention overcomes this objection by placing the liquidunder pressure, by controlling the feed of the liquid to a limitedamount, and by limiting the heating or vaporization of the liquid as itis applied to the heated exhaust gases.

An important object of the invention is to provide a liquid feederadapted to be used in connection with the exhaust of an internalcombustion engine in which the liquid to be vaporized is placed underpressure to overcome back pressure in the exhaust.

A further object of the invention is to provide a fogger attachment foran internal combustion engine having a liquid to be vaporized which isplaced under pressure with the liquid discharged accurately controlledas it is fed to the engine exhaust.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a foggerattachment for an internal combustion engine in which the heating effectof the engine exhaust is limited to a short piped connection close tothe exhaust.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide a foggerattachment for an internal combustion engine which is used with atractor vehicle having means for placing the liquid to be vaporizedunder pressure to overcome the back pressure of the exhaust and toproduce a fine spray discharged from the mufiier in the form of acontinuous fog.

Other objects of the invention will appear in the specification and willbe apparent from the accompanying drawings in which,

Fig. 1 is a perspective View of a mower having a fogger 2,759,292Patented Aug. 21, 1956 attachment in accordance with this invention inconnection therewith.

Fig. 2 is a view of the fogger attachment as shown which is applied tothe exhaust of an internal combustion engine; and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view partly in section showing a terminal fittingfor the fogger connected between the engine and a muffler therefor.

In Vaporizers as heretofore employed, one of the objects appears to bethat the feeding of the liquid to be vaporized is often dependent uponthe speed of the engine. When the engine runs slowly, the back pressurefrom the muffier is low and is not sufiicient to force the liquid fromthe mufller connection, and the liquid is evidently vaporized indroplets so that the actual discharge of the vapor is fitful andspasmodic, and when the engine is more rapidly operated, the backpressure in the muffier is increased and the vaporization of the liquidis used spasmodic with perhaps greater intervals between the fitfulvapor discharges, but resulting in larger discharges when they doappear.

The present invention overcomes these objections by placing the liquidto be vaporized under pressure, and in feeding the liquid through aneedle valve which may be finely adjusted so that the liquid from thesupply receptacle may be fed evenly and smoothly at all times resultingin a continuous vaporization from the muffler which appears in acontinuous fog so that it may be accurately directed and applied to anyarea over which the vehicle passes.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, the invention isillustrated as applied to a lawn mower although it may be also appliedto tractors and other vehicles which have an internal combustion engineand are movable over an area where it is desired to destroy or immunizethe insects.

In the vehicle shown, an internal combustion engine 10 is mounted upon asuitable frame having wheels 12 for moving it over the ground, and withblades 14 for cutting the grass. The blades are rotated by the engine ina well known manner and the vehicle may also be propelled by the engineor by a handle 16 extending upwardly from the frame and having handgrips 18 extending oppositely at the upper end of the handle.

Extending from the cylinder of the engine is a mufiier 20 usuallydirectly connected thereto by a short nipple 22. In connecting thefogger to the engine, a short pipe 24 is connected to one end of anangle coupling 26 and the other end of the coupling is connected to oneend of the nipple 22, the muffler being disposed at the other end of thenipple. Connected through the side of the pipe 24 is a fitting 28preferably threaded therein and made liquid-tight by a surroundingfillet 30 of solder. Connected to the outer end of this fitting by apipe coupler 32 is a short length of pipe 34 usually of copper, brass,aluminum or other metal which may be readily bent in at least onecomplete turn 36 close to the coupling 32 and to the muffler pipe 24.

To the outer end of the pipe 34, a flexible hose 38 is connected whichmay extend more or less loosely from the engine upwardly along thehandle 16 which is sometimes raised and lowered for guiding the vehicleand also for controlling the coupling of the engine to the vehiclepropelling mechanism.

A closed receptacle 40 has a pipe fitting 42 at one end including aneedle valve 44 controlled by a rotatable handle 46 for accuratelyvarying the position of the needle so that a minute quantity of theliquid may be discharged from the receptacle. At the outer side of theneedle valve is a stem 48 extending into the adjacent end of theflexible hose 38 so that liquid from the container 3 may be accuratelyfed through the turn 36 in the pipe 34 to the exhaust pipe.

This receptacle 40 may be supported in any position upon the vehicle andmay be attached to the handle 16 for guiding and controlling thevehicle. To secure the receptacle to the handle, a flat strip 50 iscentrally attached to the center of the receptacle with extremities 52projecting therefrom and spaced from the receptacle so that fasteningclamps 54 extending around the handle 16 may also overlap and engage theends 52 or" the plate for adjustably clamping the receptacle at anyplace along the handle. Similar attaching means may be provided forattaching the receptacle upon any suitable projecting portion of thevehicle.

At the upper projecting end of the receptacle 40 in position on thehandle, a hollow threaded boss 56 extends from the receptacle into whicha fitting 58 for the pressure pump 60 is inserted. This pump is a wellknown type having a check valve 62 at its inner end and an internalplunger operated by an outwardly projecting stem 64 with a fingerengaging knob 66 at the outer end. By pressing the stem 64 downwardlyseveral times, air pressure is applied to the inside of the receptacle40 and this pressure is conveyed to a liquid insecticide 68 inside ofthe receptacle. The insecticide may be a solution of any suitablematerial such as DDT, Chloradine, Lindane, or any other mixture which issuitably vaporized by the heat of the engine exhaust to produce a fog.

It is found that only a slight pressure is needed in the receptacle 40and a few operations of the pump plunger are sufficient to accomplishthe desired result. In the case of a handle mower as shown in Fig. 1,the location of the pump at the upper end of the receptacle places itclose to the hand grips 18 so that whenever necessary, one hand may beapplied to the plunger without disturbing the control of the vehicle bymeans of the handle and without stopping the vehicle. Thus the foggingoperation may be controlled and continuous. For some other applicationof the receptacle to a different vehicle, it may be desired to have thepump located at a different angle in the receptacle 40. Thus this foggermay be applied to any vehicle and moved by it to any location where itis desired to dispense an insecticide.

While the invention has been described in some detail, it should beregarded as an illustration or an example rather than as a limitation orrestriction of the invention, since various changes in the construction,combination, and arrangement of the parts may be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention.

We claim:

In a power mower fogger for discharging vaporized liquid and destroyinginsects, the combination with a movable wheeled vehicle having anupwardly extending guiding handle which may be raised and lowered tocontrol the mower operation and having hand grips at the upper end, ofan internal combustion engine carried by the vehicle for propelling itand operating the mower, having an exhaust pipe therefrom connected to amufiier for the engine, a receptacle for a liquid vaporized by exhaustfrom the engine and carried by the handle adjacent said hand grips, apressure applying pump extending into the receptacle at the upper endwith an operating stem projecting therefrom adjacent the hand grips formanual operation independent of the movement and control of the vehicleby the handle, a pipe connection between the receptacle and the interiorof the exhaust pipe, the pipe connection including a flexible portion topermit the handle to be raised and lowered relative to the engine andalso including a heat reducing loop adjacent the exhaust pipe forreducing the transfer of heat through the pipe connection to thereceptacle, and a valve in the pipe connection adjacent the receptacleto accurately control the liquid fed from the receptacle, the pumpplacing the receptacle under pressure" for discharging liquid from thereceptacle through the pipe connection into the exhaust pipe at apressure exceeding that of the exhaust to prevent back pressure from theexhaust into the receptacle and to insure vaporization of the liquidthrough the engine exhaust mulfier.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS596,799 Andrews Jan. 4, 1898 814,131 Harris Mar. 6, 1906 1,374,519 OlsonApr. 12, 1921 1,497,428 Braun et al. June 10, 1924 1,614,015 Neuls Jan.11, 1927 2,422,024 Levey et al. June 10, 1947 2,655,406 Loy et al. Oct.13, 1953

